Pallet Cooler Stand

Hey guys! Rob here! I know pallet wood is still one of the latest crazes with DIY projects and this cooler stand involves just that. Really, JUST THAT. Aside from a double pack of hinges and a handle, I had everything else on hand for this project. It was a bit time consuming but I think it's really cool that no one would know an old, dingy cooler was sitting in this pallet cooler stand.

STEP 1: Make the Legs Using eight pieces of pallet wood, glue and nail two boards along the long edge to form a leg. Repeat four times, then cut all four legs to the same length; the length is dependent on how tall you want your cooler to stand--I recommend about stomach level. I made my cooler stand 32" tall.

STEP 2: Measure cooler Next, measure the length, width and height of the cooler--you'll need these measurements to determine how big to make the body of the stand in order for the cooler to fit nicely inside.

STEP 4: Measure wood for body of cooler stand Now, mark the legs to show where the base of the cooler and the bottom shelf will be located. For the base of my cooler, I measured the height of the cooler plus ½” to allow for the thickness of the board the cooler will sit on.

Measure the distance from the top of the frame to the bottom of the cooler shelf and cut boards to form the sides. Glue and nail the boards around all four sides of the frame. If needed, use a table saw to make smaller pieces to fill in small gaps.

>>>Side note: I used an old cooler with a busted lid for this project (the lid was usable but it no longer held into the notches of the cooler) so I decided to ditch the lid altogether for this simple design.

STEP 6: Make lid Measure the inside of the opening at the top of the cooler and cut two pieces to hold the cover together (these will be on the underside of the finished cooler stand top when the top is closed). Then cut the necessary number of pieces to make the cover. Glue and nail the cover together.

Note: I highly recommend adding 1-2 chains on either side of the lid to hold it open. Because the pallet wood I used was pretty thin, when the lid was opened all the way back and unsupported, the hinges cracked the wood which caused the lid to come off.

All-in-all, aside from all of the cutting and assembling, this was a pretty fun project. Courtney usually does most of the finishing work for our projects and for this, she liked the unfinished look of the pallet wood so she decided to leave it alone once I was done. As I'm sure she's mentioned many times before, we love to have friends and family over so this is another way we can store our cold drinks, condiments and other fridge items outdoors long enough to have a backyard dinner.

Put about 3 -4 inches of river rock in the bottom, (for water drainage) add some dirt, leave off the lid, and it would be a cute planter. Done the same thing, only not with such long legs.. put it near the garden, It started as a potato planter. But I love it better with mixed color's of pansies.